Today I went to the clinic opposite church to see a doctor regarding my ear. Jie ying and my mom kept asking me to. There were many interesting sights while waiting for over an hour inside the clinic. There were impatient people and rather emotional ones. But I won't elaborate on them.
I told the doctor I was hearing a high pitched sound in my ears. He took some scope to check the visible part of the ear. He said there was no problem as much as he could see. I forgot what that part of the ear is called and he showed me some pictures. That part was where ear wax would usually accumulate and can cause high pitched sounds but there wasn't any there. There are 2 other parts which are deeper in the ear. There's the nerves which cannot be seen and the passage from the nose to the ear. He asked if I had a blocked nose, sneezing or anything but I didn't have any. So there are a few possibilities, first, the nerve isn't working well, or second, the passage from the nose to ear is inflamed or has something wrong.
He gave medicine for the nerve to increase blood flow there, nose inflammation and running nose (not for running nose but to clear the passage if it's blocked). Then, he looked at my address and said, "oh, 13th floor? should be okay, not too bad." Thankfully, I'm not staying too high or I don't know where I'll have to move to. Then, no swimming, going high up like on a plane, diving under water, ear phones, talking on the phone with the phone directly at the ear (which means my conversation will be made quite public, so I think we all know what to do). I revealed that I played the violin and asked if it was ok. He frowned and asked if it was for recreation. Well, I think, so. Definitely not competitive violining (my new word). He asked if I could stop for a while but I didn't give a direct answer. So he just told me to stuff some cotton wool in my ear during violin practice.
There's medicine for 10 days and if the problem persists, I'll have to be referred to an ear, throat and nose centre and probably take a hearing test which I think I might fail. By then, I'll probably diagnosed with high frequency hearing loss. I think it's accurate, considering I could only hear up to 14 kHz. My grandmother insists I'm imagining the sound. I don't know. But my mom got worried when I didn't hear the microwave oven beep and she did.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Saturday, September 27, 2008
blah
This week, there was Social studies, english paper one and chinese. Yay, 4 papers down, dunno how many more to go. I don't think I did well for any of them. I was clueless for the SS SBQ but we did one of the structured essay questions before. As for English, there was this topic, War. I think the teachers would have sent me for counselling because I'd only write about conquering tables in the canteen, hijacking classrooms for sectionals and warring with ants. Chinese was hard but the teacher already told us to be mentally prepared. The compre questions were so indirect and inferenced based, something I don't do well in.
Now, enough about exams. F1. My dad has been busy with it these few days, coming back later and having to pick up calls often. I think Singtel pulls out their employees to help them supervise the F1 helpers. But he doesn't have to be there live. (correction 28/9/08 5.50 pm: he has to be there live. I just realised because he's not at home now) Those who go there to watch it live really need a brain extension. They sit there, watch the car for a split second, and then they have to wait a while for for the next zm (zooom made short). And then, bear with heat, traffic and noise pollution. Those like me who watch from home can see all the action, not suffer in that environment and feel wise.
I still like this joke:
"hey you have something on your chin!"
"what? where?"
"over there, there - I think it's the second last one.."
ok now bye. I will concentrate on watching tv.
Now, enough about exams. F1. My dad has been busy with it these few days, coming back later and having to pick up calls often. I think Singtel pulls out their employees to help them supervise the F1 helpers. But he doesn't have to be there live. (correction 28/9/08 5.50 pm: he has to be there live. I just realised because he's not at home now) Those who go there to watch it live really need a brain extension. They sit there, watch the car for a split second, and then they have to wait a while for for the next zm (zooom made short). And then, bear with heat, traffic and noise pollution. Those like me who watch from home can see all the action, not suffer in that environment and feel wise.
I still like this joke:
"hey you have something on your chin!"
"what? where?"
"over there, there - I think it's the second last one.."
ok now bye. I will concentrate on watching tv.
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Today is Saturday. I slept at 1 am today and woke up at 8.15 to do violin practice because half my Saturdays are always spent outside. After that, I ate breakfast did did the e math paper which nearly murdered all my brain cells. I was busy misreading questions and mistaking concepts. I managed to persevere all the way and made sure every answer was correct before I went to do theory homework. I was in a poor mental state and nearly erased a hole in the page because I was annoyed with the "tao gays" (beansprouts/notes). So many hidden consecutive 8ths and 5ths.
After that, I decided to lean back on my chair to rest for a while. Oh, my chair is the type that can go almost 180 degrees so it feels scary like ur going to tip over because ppl normally do when they try leaning back on most chairs. I can't remember how many times I woke up (quite often) because I am a light sleeper and wake up at the slightest bit of talking. In the morning when my mom comes into my room, I am able to wake up just as she enters. I don't know why.. maybe I could hear her walking. Then at one point, I decided to make some use of my time, by trying to chant out (in my head) the forests and their characteristics/adaptations for geog. I only reached the first forest, around 5th point, and I started to drift off into somewhere.
I think my hearing has a serious problem. Mr Chua let our class try the sound generator where you can adjust the frequency till an inaudible range. He asked those who couldn't hear to raise their hands. The first round, Atiqa couldn't hear at about 16kHz. I didn't raise my hand because I wasn't sure if what I was hearing was correct. Because there's also this high pitched sound in my head that I hear when it's quiet. The second round when Mrs Khor was tested, I realised I suddenly coudn't hear anything at about 14-15kHz. I think that's the lowest in class. And sometimes I get deaf temporarily, like everything is suddenly softer. And, when I put my phone's speaker at my left ear, it is not as loud as at my right ear. Recently, I've also realised that I don't hear as much sound. Like, my ears feel blocked like when ur sitting on a plane and it changes in height. But this one is less irritating then the landing type, but quite permanent. Blame the violin. I think if I upgrade to a newer one, it's going to be so much louder I think I'll just go deaf by 20.
Deafness reminds me of blindness. I remember when I was in primary 2/3, I calculated that I would be blind by 18 years old. But I don't think it's possible now. Because during that time, my eyesight degree increased by about 50 every year. But after about 6-7 years, it stabilised and started going down. I think it's becuase I started reading less. So maybe I won't be blind so soon.
I am still contemplating whether or not to go for the mission trip from 23-31 Dec. I already made up my mind at first, but because so many people (ok not like hundreds, but the more active ppl in church) are planning to go, so the church is worried their Christmas program will be affected because of the lack of manpower. For one thing, Chimes cannot play because me, jean, xj, yx and (hilary?) wont be around and since it relies heavily on every note to be there, our performance is at risk because the rest cannot handle 4 chimes each. My mom is rattling on now about how terrible the situation is. And then for band, they say they are affected by 2 missing violins.. sigh. So mom is trying to convince dad to tell the other elders when they meet to convince them to have the thing earlier. I hope it works, then I won't have to make a choice.
Never make Jie Ying laugh when she is sitting behind a desk. If you notice when she laughs, she always jerks her head violently. Then once during music, she accidentally banged her head on the desk really loudly. I ended up laughing very hard and jie ying used that opportunity to poke me. But i learnt my lesson. I try not to spark off her laughing disorder but she always ends up laughing somehow.. like at my art or stick people.
After that, I decided to lean back on my chair to rest for a while. Oh, my chair is the type that can go almost 180 degrees so it feels scary like ur going to tip over because ppl normally do when they try leaning back on most chairs. I can't remember how many times I woke up (quite often) because I am a light sleeper and wake up at the slightest bit of talking. In the morning when my mom comes into my room, I am able to wake up just as she enters. I don't know why.. maybe I could hear her walking. Then at one point, I decided to make some use of my time, by trying to chant out (in my head) the forests and their characteristics/adaptations for geog. I only reached the first forest, around 5th point, and I started to drift off into somewhere.
I think my hearing has a serious problem. Mr Chua let our class try the sound generator where you can adjust the frequency till an inaudible range. He asked those who couldn't hear to raise their hands. The first round, Atiqa couldn't hear at about 16kHz. I didn't raise my hand because I wasn't sure if what I was hearing was correct. Because there's also this high pitched sound in my head that I hear when it's quiet. The second round when Mrs Khor was tested, I realised I suddenly coudn't hear anything at about 14-15kHz. I think that's the lowest in class. And sometimes I get deaf temporarily, like everything is suddenly softer. And, when I put my phone's speaker at my left ear, it is not as loud as at my right ear. Recently, I've also realised that I don't hear as much sound. Like, my ears feel blocked like when ur sitting on a plane and it changes in height. But this one is less irritating then the landing type, but quite permanent. Blame the violin. I think if I upgrade to a newer one, it's going to be so much louder I think I'll just go deaf by 20.
Deafness reminds me of blindness. I remember when I was in primary 2/3, I calculated that I would be blind by 18 years old. But I don't think it's possible now. Because during that time, my eyesight degree increased by about 50 every year. But after about 6-7 years, it stabilised and started going down. I think it's becuase I started reading less. So maybe I won't be blind so soon.
I am still contemplating whether or not to go for the mission trip from 23-31 Dec. I already made up my mind at first, but because so many people (ok not like hundreds, but the more active ppl in church) are planning to go, so the church is worried their Christmas program will be affected because of the lack of manpower. For one thing, Chimes cannot play because me, jean, xj, yx and (hilary?) wont be around and since it relies heavily on every note to be there, our performance is at risk because the rest cannot handle 4 chimes each. My mom is rattling on now about how terrible the situation is. And then for band, they say they are affected by 2 missing violins.. sigh. So mom is trying to convince dad to tell the other elders when they meet to convince them to have the thing earlier. I hope it works, then I won't have to make a choice.
Never make Jie Ying laugh when she is sitting behind a desk. If you notice when she laughs, she always jerks her head violently. Then once during music, she accidentally banged her head on the desk really loudly. I ended up laughing very hard and jie ying used that opportunity to poke me. But i learnt my lesson. I try not to spark off her laughing disorder but she always ends up laughing somehow.. like at my art or stick people.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
today and what i forgot yesterday
I just finished violin practice and I suddenly remembered something while playing The Romantic Pieces (Dvorak = Rojak). The crazy publisher thinks violinists have 5 fingers (i mean they do, on one hand, but only 4 fingers usually press the strings). Usually, there are some fingering suggestions on the scores. Then while my teacher was giving the fingering and bowings, she suddenly realised there was a fifth finger there. It would be quite awkward trying to bend my thumb forward onto the finger board. And I can't imagine vibrato...
The first movement of The Romantic Pieces only has 5.5 bars of 64 bars in first position and most of the time I have to climb around the finger board. Whoever came up with double stops (corelli) and sul G/D/A/E (dunno who, but the victims have to keep shifting positions because they can only use that string for the whole stretch), I don't know what I'll do with them.
I stayed back for TF comm meeting then walked back home. While walking home, I saw people around the Ang Mo Kio neighbourhood. I think I've started thinking a lot more about how unique Singapore is to have such good racial harmony after flipping through the sri lanka/northern Ireland conflict case study in the SS textbook. From when the elderly Indian women gave Jean and I her umbrella, to 2 women of different races happily chatting/complaining about a particular thing.
Brain cells potential cemetery registration (for this week): Accident math test tomorrow, chemistry on Tues, math carnival (A math competition) on Wed, Chinese test on Thurs, Chinese oral on Friday.
The first movement of The Romantic Pieces only has 5.5 bars of 64 bars in first position and most of the time I have to climb around the finger board. Whoever came up with double stops (corelli) and sul G/D/A/E (dunno who, but the victims have to keep shifting positions because they can only use that string for the whole stretch), I don't know what I'll do with them.
I stayed back for TF comm meeting then walked back home. While walking home, I saw people around the Ang Mo Kio neighbourhood. I think I've started thinking a lot more about how unique Singapore is to have such good racial harmony after flipping through the sri lanka/northern Ireland conflict case study in the SS textbook. From when the elderly Indian women gave Jean and I her umbrella, to 2 women of different races happily chatting/complaining about a particular thing.
Brain cells potential cemetery registration (for this week): Accident math test tomorrow, chemistry on Tues, math carnival (A math competition) on Wed, Chinese test on Thurs, Chinese oral on Friday.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
blah blah blah
It's been some time since I last posted. But compared to the past 2 years, it's a significant improvement. I have officially failed 3 consecutive SS tests and just passed 2 previous elective Geog tests. Comb humans (hahaha... combing humans) is going to die soon. But on the other hand, people like Jie Ying who scored 6 marks for SBQ had to write 80 lines for not comparing tone/purpose/motive while me, who scored 1 mark, was saved from the hand exercise.
I think my house has a moon cake supply that is not going to end soon. For the past 2 weeks, we have been eating a moon cake almost every night. Part of the load comes from my parents' moon cake expedition in Malacca while the other part is from my grandparents who drove to Penang to visit relatives/holiday and picked up a lot of food on the way.
I went for the Stephen Tong gospel rally today. It was nice seeing other chinese churches come together because we always seem like some minority group. Church friends and I helped out during the childrens' gospel rally in the afternoon as "pei tan yuan". At first, we had no idea what to say. Oh, we were supposed to talk to them if they decided to accept Christ and walked to the front. There was this massive human jam. I nearly wanted to say, "hmm.. jin tian de tian qi zhen hao..." and i'll probaby scare them off. But it turned out to be quite simple so it was ok. I met Pearlyn twice. Came home at almost 11.
Piece pick for this post (my task, and jie ying's beginning of torture from me again): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBr7rcCoEQo
I am not going to post anything about revision or studying for EOY because it is rare and I will only panic. I can feel my brain disconnecting... good morning, lynn, shutting down now.
(Oh ya! jie ying's section: My blog will still be blah blah blah.. because i don't want to kill further you because ur laughing disorder can activate at commands. It's not that you haven't reached your max deadness, but it's just the thought that counts.)
I think my house has a moon cake supply that is not going to end soon. For the past 2 weeks, we have been eating a moon cake almost every night. Part of the load comes from my parents' moon cake expedition in Malacca while the other part is from my grandparents who drove to Penang to visit relatives/holiday and picked up a lot of food on the way.
I went for the Stephen Tong gospel rally today. It was nice seeing other chinese churches come together because we always seem like some minority group. Church friends and I helped out during the childrens' gospel rally in the afternoon as "pei tan yuan". At first, we had no idea what to say. Oh, we were supposed to talk to them if they decided to accept Christ and walked to the front. There was this massive human jam. I nearly wanted to say, "hmm.. jin tian de tian qi zhen hao..." and i'll probaby scare them off. But it turned out to be quite simple so it was ok. I met Pearlyn twice. Came home at almost 11.
Piece pick for this post (my task, and jie ying's beginning of torture from me again): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBr7rcCoEQo
I am not going to post anything about revision or studying for EOY because it is rare and I will only panic. I can feel my brain disconnecting... good morning, lynn, shutting down now.
(Oh ya! jie ying's section: My blog will still be blah blah blah.. because i don't want to kill further you because ur laughing disorder can activate at commands. It's not that you haven't reached your max deadness, but it's just the thought that counts.)
Friday, September 05, 2008
Ant War and another story
Yesterday afternoon, my mom and I got to work dettolising the whole house. And yes, whole house meaning from every bit of furniture, almost any easily clearable cupboard to the floor. And please ignore the horrible state of my english. I invented the word "detollise" yesterday. root word: dettol (the soap thing), (verb). to disinfect your territory with dettol as a form of defence, deterrence.
Here's how it started. Since it was the holidays, I woke up later and prepared breakfast in the kitchen and helped mom. Then, I suddenly spotted an ant, and more ants crawling on the table. This lasted for about 2-3 days, then on Thurs, I couldn't stand it. My mom managed to trace the ants to a cupboard and one corner of it was full of tiny ants.
How to stage a war against ants:
Step 1: take an ant poison port. The one where ants walk in and then they walk out. And they die halfway on their journey back to their base camp.
Step 2: After about 1 hour (depending on your enemy size), clear out the dead bodies and offer free delivery back to their home base (rubbish chute) as a form of diplomacy.
Step 3: Use liquid dettol and dilute it in water. Use a cloth and disinfect/plant poison on the trail. Clean up/destroy their cupboard base camp and take over their territory (place pesticide paper in the cupboard) and now, it's yours. Dettolise all the ex-ant territory you can find and surround their home base with special artillery. Starting from their home base camp, detollise your whole territory.
Step 4: Take out your map and start re-marking out your land as you reclaim your land.
Here is how my mom and I did step 3. Oh, dad was working and Jean had some NEmation thing. I was in charge of dettolising my room (tidying it up, mostly) and Jean's room too. Then, I dettolised the house floor by mopping it. I have/get to do the mopping bacause dad doesn't allow mom to mop the floor, or touch the mop for that matter. But he didn't forbid me to so i suppose it's ok. But most of the time, he does it every fri/sat. My mom was in charge of furniture outside (study room, living room etc.) I spent time tidying my room and i'm proud of it. Now, the cupboard with toys, clothes (some mine, but mostly my parents' seldom used property), violin, and scores is so neat. I have easy access to all the scores now and I managed to free up an about 30x20cm piece of land.
The war raged on for 5 hours that day. Human beans won. Well, actually, that's not the final score. This morning, I met some ants again in the kitchen, but because my parents were off for a mooncake expedition at Malacca and I had to go out today, there was no time to war.
another story:
Today, I woke up at 6.15am to rush my theory homework, then I left the house at 7.20 for tutti but I ended up 10mins late. I really don't understand why sometimes I can get to school so fast, and other times, unexpectedly slowly. There was audition today so I had to play, then listen to some others. Arh, oh ya, I hope I don't forget to tell ms ow the new section arrangements. gah, I'm ageing rapidly.
After tutti, stayed back to discuss the kite runner presentation thing, then I had theory lesson at 2pm. I was so sleepy I ended up sleeping on the bus and had to force myself to wake up to check my location every few mins. I reached home at 4pm, finished up romantic opera and then did violin practice. I think I'm starting to see some light for Sarabande. I ate diner after Jean came back and now I'm waiting for mom and dad to come back. bye, lynn. type to you again soon.
Here's how it started. Since it was the holidays, I woke up later and prepared breakfast in the kitchen and helped mom. Then, I suddenly spotted an ant, and more ants crawling on the table. This lasted for about 2-3 days, then on Thurs, I couldn't stand it. My mom managed to trace the ants to a cupboard and one corner of it was full of tiny ants.
How to stage a war against ants:
Step 1: take an ant poison port. The one where ants walk in and then they walk out. And they die halfway on their journey back to their base camp.
Step 2: After about 1 hour (depending on your enemy size), clear out the dead bodies and offer free delivery back to their home base (rubbish chute) as a form of diplomacy.
Step 3: Use liquid dettol and dilute it in water. Use a cloth and disinfect/plant poison on the trail. Clean up/destroy their cupboard base camp and take over their territory (place pesticide paper in the cupboard) and now, it's yours. Dettolise all the ex-ant territory you can find and surround their home base with special artillery. Starting from their home base camp, detollise your whole territory.
Step 4: Take out your map and start re-marking out your land as you reclaim your land.
Here is how my mom and I did step 3. Oh, dad was working and Jean had some NEmation thing. I was in charge of dettolising my room (tidying it up, mostly) and Jean's room too. Then, I dettolised the house floor by mopping it. I have/get to do the mopping bacause dad doesn't allow mom to mop the floor, or touch the mop for that matter. But he didn't forbid me to so i suppose it's ok. But most of the time, he does it every fri/sat. My mom was in charge of furniture outside (study room, living room etc.) I spent time tidying my room and i'm proud of it. Now, the cupboard with toys, clothes (some mine, but mostly my parents' seldom used property), violin, and scores is so neat. I have easy access to all the scores now and I managed to free up an about 30x20cm piece of land.
The war raged on for 5 hours that day. Human beans won. Well, actually, that's not the final score. This morning, I met some ants again in the kitchen, but because my parents were off for a mooncake expedition at Malacca and I had to go out today, there was no time to war.
another story:
Today, I woke up at 6.15am to rush my theory homework, then I left the house at 7.20 for tutti but I ended up 10mins late. I really don't understand why sometimes I can get to school so fast, and other times, unexpectedly slowly. There was audition today so I had to play, then listen to some others. Arh, oh ya, I hope I don't forget to tell ms ow the new section arrangements. gah, I'm ageing rapidly.
After tutti, stayed back to discuss the kite runner presentation thing, then I had theory lesson at 2pm. I was so sleepy I ended up sleeping on the bus and had to force myself to wake up to check my location every few mins. I reached home at 4pm, finished up romantic opera and then did violin practice. I think I'm starting to see some light for Sarabande. I ate diner after Jean came back and now I'm waiting for mom and dad to come back. bye, lynn. type to you again soon.
Wednesday, September 03, 2008
There's an ant invasion in my house and I'm going to attack their colony later. My mom discovered a colony of ants in one of our kitchen cupboards. But, surprisingly, there was no food stored in there - only plates, containers, harmless material etc. Gah, there will be world war VII later and I won't let down us, the human beans.
I had violin lesson yesterday and it is amazing how an easy piece can be so challenging. Here are some ways on how to increase the difficulty of any piece - first, positions. As far as possible, try to have a "best fit"position, which will almost definitely be shifting around first, second and third position. Well, there isn't any fourth position because the high D is about all the piece goes up to. Next, focus on all the shiftings and practice and analyze each shift that isn't fast or accurate enough. Practice it silently, have a shifting race/competition, and the tada, you have have just perfected a shift. And next, focus on every string cross. Well, for this, stare at your bow or ask someone to help you, then make sure the bow is straight while crossing, does not create audible noise on the other redundant strings and when you bow, don't use so much bow for the bach effect. Use little bow, but strong sound. Then, fingers. Only lift each finger after the next one has been placed. This one can drive me crazy when I'm already trying to focus on the hundred and one other important things.
Talking about difficulty, double stops can really change anyone's mental state. My new task: (it's part of the dip syllabus so hopefully it doesn't go to waste) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_1T9CVoeTA
I still have 15 romantic composers to summarise and nationalism in nineteenth century music. Oh ya, and an ant war to fight. I'd better get going on the romantic period now.
I had violin lesson yesterday and it is amazing how an easy piece can be so challenging. Here are some ways on how to increase the difficulty of any piece - first, positions. As far as possible, try to have a "best fit"position, which will almost definitely be shifting around first, second and third position. Well, there isn't any fourth position because the high D is about all the piece goes up to. Next, focus on all the shiftings and practice and analyze each shift that isn't fast or accurate enough. Practice it silently, have a shifting race/competition, and the tada, you have have just perfected a shift. And next, focus on every string cross. Well, for this, stare at your bow or ask someone to help you, then make sure the bow is straight while crossing, does not create audible noise on the other redundant strings and when you bow, don't use so much bow for the bach effect. Use little bow, but strong sound. Then, fingers. Only lift each finger after the next one has been placed. This one can drive me crazy when I'm already trying to focus on the hundred and one other important things.
Talking about difficulty, double stops can really change anyone's mental state. My new task: (it's part of the dip syllabus so hopefully it doesn't go to waste) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_1T9CVoeTA
I still have 15 romantic composers to summarise and nationalism in nineteenth century music. Oh ya, and an ant war to fight. I'd better get going on the romantic period now.
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